Are You Ready to Win the Amazon Buy Box Battle?

E-commerce is an increasingly popular sector within the retail industry. And with Amazon at the helm of the market, brands and businesses must understand how to win on this platform to take hold of market share. 

Your e-commerce business must earn top-ranking spots on Amazon to reach its potential. But in an ever-expanding digital shelf, you’re not the only one competing for those spots. This article explains how to win the Amazon Buy Box battle and why doing so is the best thing that can happen to your e-commerce business. 

What is Amazon’s Buy Box and Why Does It Matter for Your Business?

Amazon’s Buy Box is the “add to cart” and “buy now” sections on the right side of a product listing. Amazon reserves Buy Box positions for high-performance sellers with the most competitive pricing. 

The Box bears significant weight on shoppers’ purchase decisions.  A whopping 82 percent of Amazon sales go through the Buy Box. According to the retail giant, over 300 million active users shop on Amazon, and 28 percent of purchases are made in 3 minutes or less. Half of all purchases are completed within 15 minutes.  

Your presence in the Buy Box puts your products and brand front and center, directly in sight of millions of shoppers who are primed to buy. And because Amazon is a household name, you benefit from selling with an experienced, reputable, and trusted retailer. 

Winning the Buy Box

Winning Amazon’s Buy Box is synonymous with increased engagement and sales. Shoppers view the Buy Box as a seal of approval from Amazon. If you win the buy box, you will move more products and increase your revenue. 

But earning the top spot (and staying there) requires strategic planning. Amazon wants to promote the best products at the best prices for its consumers. Our tips below can help you position yourself to win Amazon’s Buy Box and maintain that spot long-term.

1. Product Content Audits

When a shopper comes to amazon, they need content that preemptively answers questions, addresses concerns, and delivers the next best thing to an in-store experience. To purchase products sight unseen, consumers demand high-level product content: imagery, product descriptions, imagery, video, specs, and more. 

As a seller, you know the resources required to create and manage quality product content that sells. Good product content drives traffic to your Amazon product listings. Exceptional content converts shoppers and brings you closer to the coveted Buy Box. Product content audits help you deliver quality content consumers want and need to buy your product from Amazon –– and any other channel where you sell. 

Audits evaluate strengths and weaknesses in your content. Regular, formal content audits allow you to track performance, increase visibility, and sell more.

2. Maintain Inventory Supply

Earning the Buy Box on Amazon’s Marketplace will increase your sales. And to keep this position and the boom in sales that comes with it, you must maintain your inventory supply. 

Amazon puts its most successful listings in its Buy Box. They want to ensure the Buy Box seller can meet this new demand and deliver to their shoppers. If you sell out of your products, your “out of stock” status will cause you to lose your spot to a competitor. To prevent selling out, you can set up notifications through Amazon Seller Central that alert you when your stock drops below the limit you’ve set.

3. Ratings and Reviews Monitoring

You cannot overestimate the importance of your product ratings and reviews. Nearly 100 percent of shoppers read reviews before making a purchase. They’re the most influential factor affecting purchase decisions, more so than price, shipping costs, and brand. 

While customer ratings affect your success across all channels, they’re essential as you consider how to win the Amazon Buy Box battle. Your ratings directly impact your sales. Good ratings instill confidence in shoppers, often acting as the final nudge that convinces them to buy. Bad ratings will send shoppers elsewhere. When that happens, you lose the sale and inch further from the coveted Buy Box spot. 

Customer feedback is one factor that dictates your position in the Buy Box. As such, brands must monitor ratings and reviews. 

When a shopper buys from Amazon, they want reassurance that they’re making a wise purchase choice. Positive reviews from other customers provide that assurance. Thus begins the momentum that leads to winning the Buy Box spot: 

1. Shoppers buy your products. 
2. They leave a positive review. 
3. Other shoppers see it and buy your products. 
4. Amazon’s algorithm categorizes you as a high-volume, high-performing seller. 
5. You earn the Buy Box. 

An effective review and rating management strategy allows you to learn from your customers, address their complaints, and earn increasingly positive reviews moving forward. Good reviews are essential for brands looking to win Amazon’s Buy Box – and the rest of the digital shelf.

4. Buy Box Monitoring

Perhaps the most effective and focused way to win the Buy Box –– and stay there –– is through regular monitoring. 

You likely aren’t the only one selling your products. Unauthorized third-party sellers will list your items, often undercutting your prices, causing you to lose sales and your position in the Buy Box. Buy Box monitoring allows you to see who’s selling your products and how much they’re selling them for, giving your greater control over your products, reputation, and position on Amazon’s digital shelf. 

Content Status’s Buy Box monitoring empowers you to: 

• Protect your brand reputation by identifying unauthorized, malicious sellers 
• Understand who is selling your products, where, and at what price
• Evaluate sellers of competing products 
• See product availability and identify who is winning Amazon’s Buy Box 

Investing in a monitoring program alerts you to potential roadblocks that prevent you from securing your position in the Buy Box. 

Winning the Amazon Buy Box with Content Status

Earning your spot in the Buy Box can transform your e-commerce business in the best way. Few victories are more influential to your long-term success than winning the Amazon Buy Box battle. 

Content Status delivers the solutions you need to win, and you can start today. Contact our team to discuss how our tools and resources can help you engage more shoppers and sell more on Amazon.